Head rail construction



Oct. 27, 1964 K. MCCUBBIN 3,154,180

HEAD RAIL CONSTRUCTION Filed June 23, 1961 l 7@ 7 l Z13 9 Y 92'INVENTOR.

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United States Patent O 3,154,180 HEAD RAIL CONSTRUCTIGN Keator McCubbin,Elkhart, Ind., assignor to Henry Weiss Manufacturing Company, Inc.,Elkhart, Ind., a corporation of Delaware Filed June 23, 1961, Ser. No.119,206 1 Claim. (Cl. 1S9-36) This invention relates to structurescomprising stiles and associated members used in the construction ofcubicles or small enclosures, such as toilet and dressing compartments,shower stalls, and the like, and is concerned more particularly with theStiles and the associated head rail therefor.

lt is known to provide small compartments of the above character bymeans of partitions extending from an adjacent wall to floor anchoredstiles tied together at their upper ends by a reinforcing7 head rail,and arranged in a row, suitably spaced apart. According to the presentpractice, the stiles are formed of sheet steel of approximately twentygauge thickness and are of approximately elongated rectangular or oblongcross section with front and back panels connected by rounded sidepanels or molding strips of substantially less width than the front andback panels, usually about one-half the width thereof. The front andback panels extend upward beyond the side panels and receive betweenthem an upwardly opening reinforcing channel member of about sixteengauge steel seating on the upper edges of the side panels. The upperends of the stiles are tied together by a reinforcing head rail ofrectangular cross section with a flat top wall, formed of lockseam steeltubing of about twenty gauge thickness. The head rail seats in thereinforcing channel members, the latter and the head rail being securedto the extensions of the inner or rear panels of the Stiles by sheetmetal screws. Diiliculty has been experienced with the usual structureabove described. It has been found that boys frequently use the headrail, which may readily .be gripped by the hands without seriousdiscomfort, as a horizontal bar for performing gymnastics. The head railis thus subjected -to twisting and rocking movements under load. Thatresults in bending outward of the outer arms of the channel members andof the upward extensions of the outer or front panels of the Stiles. Thehead rail then rests loosely in the upper ends of the stiles and itsreinforcing function is largely lost, and the distorted upper ends ofthe stiles present an unsightly appearance. That necessitates repair,which is costly as well as interfering with use of the compartments,replacement of the head rail often being necessary due to distortionthereof.

My invention is directed to a head rail construction which avoids theobjections to the presently used construction, above described. I`o thatend I provide a head rail which can not be used as a horizontal barwithout serious discomfort to a person attempting to use it for thatpurpose, and which cooperates with the upward extensions of the stilesto resist bending of such extensions if the head rail is used as ahorizontal bar. The head rail of my invention also has the advantagethat the top wall thereof presents downwardly sloping surfaces whichwill not accumulate dust and may readily be cleaned, in Contrast to theilat top wall of head rails presently used, which readily accumulatedust and are diicult to clean. Further objects and advantages of myinvention will appear from the detail description.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a front view of a row of licor-anchored Stiles tied togetherby a head rail construction embodying my invention;

FIGURE 2 is a sectional View, on an enlarged scale, taken substantiallyon line 2-2 of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale,

.taken substantially on line 3-3 of FIGURE l.

I have illustrated the head rail construction of my invention, by way ofexample, as embodied in a structure comprising a row of appropriatelyspaced stiles 5. The stiles 5 are formed of twenty gauge steel and areof generally rectangular or oblong cross section, having iiat front andback panels 6 and 7 joined together by arcuate side panels or moldingstrips 8 one of which is attached to back panel 7 by a lock seam 9; asshown in FIGURE 2. The lower ends of stiles 5 are anchored to a door 10in any suitable lmown manner, preferably, but not necessarily, by theanchoring means disclosed in the co-pending application of John E.Vawter, for Stile and Mounting Therefor, Serial No. 74,106, filedDecember 6, 1960, now Patent No. 3,108,664, patented October 29, 1963.The stile 5 preferably is provided with a sound deadening core or ller5a, formed of corrugated paper board or any suitable material, iittingbetween panels 6 and 7 and cemented thereto, as is known.

The panels 6 and 7 are provided with extensions 6a and 7a, respectively,projecting above the side panels 8. A head rail 12 tits snugly betweenthe extensions 6a and 7a and seats upon the tops of the side panels orstrips 8, as shown in FIGURE 3. The head rail 12 is preferably analuminum alloy extrusion and is of generally rectangular or oblong crosssection. It comprises side walls 13 joined at their upper edges by a topwall 14 and joined at their lower edges by a at bottom wall 15 whichseats upon the upper edges of side panels 8. The top wall 14 is ofapproximately inverted ilattened V-shape in cross section providing twodownwardly and outwardly inclined arms 16 of arcuate cross section andcurved inwardly of head rail 12. The upper portions of arms 16 areintegrally joined together by a ridge 17 providing an upwardly directedpeak presenting a rather sharp edge extending lengthwise of top wall 14centrally thereof. The lower portion of each arm 16 of top wall 14extends a short distance outward beyond the corresponding side wall 13and is provided with a downwardly extending narrow lilange 1S disposedin spaced parallel relation to such side wall 13. The flanges 18, incooperation with the contiguous portions of the rail 12, providedownwardly opening channel members at the top of the respective sidewalls and of a width to engage tightly over the upper edge portions ofthe upward extensions 6a and 7a of the panels 6 and 7, respectively,with the bottom wall 15 of rail 12 seating upon the upper ends of sidepanels 8 and the upper ends of extensions 6a and 7a abutting the baseelements of the channel members.

The row of stiles 5 is disposed in spaced parallel relation to abuilding wall or analogous structure, with partitions extending betweensuch wall and the stiles to provide the desired compartments; as isknown. Doors may or may not be mounted upon the stiles, as desired or asmay be required. It may be assumed that in the illustrated embodiment ofmy invention, .the compartments are shower stalls or other compartmentsnot provided Wtih doors. Neither the building wall or analogousstructure, nor the partitions, above referred to, are shown, both beingwell known and neither constituting an essential feature of myinvention, which resides in the head rail and stile construction.

The head rail 12 lits snugly between the extensions 6a and 7a of thefront and back panels 6 and 7, respectively, of the stiles 5, with itsbottom wall seating upon the upper ends of side panels 8 and the upperedge portions of extensions 6a and 7a fitting tightly in the channelmembers at the upper edges of walls 13. The extension 7a of the back orinner panel 7 of each of the Stiles 5 is secured to the inner or backwall 13 of head rail 12 in a suitable manner, conveniently by a sheetmetal screw 19.

The downwardly and outwardly curved arms 16 of top wall 14 render itdiicult to obtain an effective nger grip on head rail 12, and the sharpedge or ridge 17 would tend to cut into a hand grasping head rail 12 forthe full width thereof; both features discouraging use of the rail as ahorizontal bar. If it be assumed that head rail 12 be so used to limitedextent by being gripped for its full width, the downwardly and inwardlyarched arms 16 of top wall 14 would carry the load under compression tosubstantial extent thereby reducing likelihood of objectionabledistortion of rail 12. Further, any tendency to twisting or sidewisetipping of head rail 12 would place the extensions 6a and 7a of thepanels 6 and 7, respectively, of the stiles under compression, due tothe seating thereof against walls 13 of rail 12 and in the channels atthe upper edges of those walls, and the seating of rail 12 on the upperends of side Panels 8 of the stiles S. Accordingly, outward bending ofextensions 6a and 7a, with resultant looseness of the head rail 12 iseiectively precluded under all conditions normally encountered. The headrail 12 and the extensions 6a and 7a are mutually reinforcing therebyproviding a structure of adequate strength without the usual reinforcingchannels presently used, which may be omitted with a correspondingsaving in metal. The downward and outward slope of arms 16 of top wall14 of head rail 12 possesses the further advantage that such wall' canreadily be cleaned and materially reduces likelihood of accumulation ofdust thereon compared to a at top wall.

It will be understood that changes in detail may be resorted to withoutdeparting from the field and scope of my invention and I intend toinclude all such variations, as fall within the scope of the appendedclaims, in this application in which the preferred form only of myinvention has been disclosed.

I claim:

In a stile-to-rail joint, a stile of substantially oblong cross sectioncomprising front and back panels joined by side panels, said front andback panels having extensions projecting upward above said side panels,and a head rail of substantially rectangular cross section comprisingflat side walls and top and bottom walls joining said side walls, saidhead rail having downwardly extending anges joined to and spaced fromsaid side walls thereof dening therewith downwardly opening channelmembers, said head rail fitting snugly between said upward extensions ofsaid front and back panels with its side walls in contact with the innerfaces of said extensions and its bottom wall seating on the upper endsof said side panels, said extensions of said front and back panels ttingtightly into said channel members and in cooperation therewith and withthe side walls of said rail restraining said extensions againsttransverse bending under load applied to said rail.y

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSBurmeister Mar. 13, 1962

